In its last session, the Indiana General Assembly passed Senate Bill 1, which cut property taxes. In Indiana, property taxes are the main funding source for county and local governments and school systems, and these local government units look to take a major hit on funding and their ability to provide services to their local communities. To make up the shortfall for essential services like ambulances, the State of Indiana is now encouraging counties, cities, and towns to impose designated local income taxes. Daviess County will face a $1 million budget shortfall from the effects of Senate Bill 1.
Tuesday, the Daviess County Council held a special informational meeting examining the effect on the county-wide ambulance service in Daviess County. Daviess Community Hospital’s CEO, Justin Harris, reviewed the expense and regulations involved in providing a 24-hour-per-day, seven-day-a-week ambulance service covering the entire county manned by trained EMS personnel. Representatives from the county’s financial advisors at Baker Tilley reviewed the county’s options.
At Wednesday’s regular Council meeting, the Council discussed the information. The Council agreed that the ambulance service is essential but also emphasized that it should be operated on a break-even basis and not as a profit maker. Faced with a major loss in funds and the state’s strong suggestions on using local option income taxes to replace lost property tax funds. The Council voted to approve a 0.10 percent EMS income tax to fund the county ambulance service.
In other business, the Council set 9:00 a.m. on the second Wednesday of each month as the meeting time for 2026. The Council also reviewed a list of appointments to various county boards and will take action on new appointments at the November meeting.
